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Managers’ Family-Supportive Supervisory Behaviors: A Multilevel Perspective, Sue A. Epstein, Janet H. Marler, Thomas D. Taber

Organization Management Journal

Using a combination of trait and situational variables we develop a model to explore the antecedents of managers’ family-supportive behaviors. Our model hypotheses were tested using data gathered from a sample of 312 subordinates matched to 92 managers. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) of the nested data yielded results that show both an individual manager’s trait (i.e., empathy) and situational variables (i.e., subordinate’s family-to-work conflict and leader–subordinate exchange quality) significantly predicted managers’ supportive behaviors. Additional HLM analyses showed that the manager’s gender (trait) and group work-to-family conflict (situation) moderated the relationship between manager’s empathy and family-supportive behaviors. Our results suggest that …